Because I'd Die Without You
by Chesca Tipton
Summary: Why do you care so much about me?" "Because I’d die without you." The mind churns, the heart yearns, the tears dry, life goes on, but I’d die without you. KakaSaku


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any of the surrounding characters.

**Song:** _Without You_ from Rent by the late, great Jonathan Larson.

* * *

**Because I'd Die Without You**

He walked along the streets of Konoha as the dusty pink hues started their good morning ritual.

_"Pink, just like her hair,"_ he thought to himself.

He trudged along the empty streets. It was Sunday. No one was awake at this ungodly hour.

He thought about her as he continued his walk home.

He thought about the pink of her hair, or the faint blush she would acquire across her face whenever he would whisper something seductive in her ear. He loved that blush that only he could see. In his eyes she was the epitome of perfection. She never once believed it when he'd tell her, but so long as she's blush just ever so slightly he didn't care, she could deny it all she wanted because he knew it was true.

He thought about how things had become as they were now. How not six months ago he had come home, much like he was now, accept then he was bruised and bleeding with a fractured arm and three cracked ribs. He hadn't been home ten minutes when his beautiful overbearing kunoichi had flung open the door and starting scolding him up one side and down the other as she healed his every inch with her gentle and loving touch.

He had asked her when she was done, _"Why do you care so much about me?"_

She immediately turned and looked him dead in the eye with no tears, just one simple line, _"Because I'd die without you."_

After that night he knew why he continued to make it home alive after every mission. It wasn't that he didn't want to disappoint her, no. It was because she was his reason for living. He didn't ever want to loose her either, and he wouldn't.

--

He turned the corner onto his street, looking down the block to see if there was the slightest glimpse of light coming from his, no, _their_ apartment.

--

Three months ago _he_ moved in with _her_.

Why?

He was a bachelor all of his life with a small apartment and memories floating around in it that he'd rather not hold onto any longer. Hers was also cleaner, by far, not that he'd ever admit that to her.

After he moved in he immediately made love to her several times over to "christen" their newfound relationship. She later confessed to him while lying in bed that following morning that she was more than a little surprised at his stamina. She had assumed that somebody his age wouldn't be able to last, she had gulped at this last part, all night. After all, he is fourteen years her senior, not that his age had ever mattered much to either of them before.

He didn't take offense to her confession, but he did decide that his ego needed to prove to her once again that he was young for his age as he made love to her three more times that following morning.

He wound up making her late for work. Tsunade chided him later about rubbing his bad traits off onto _her_ student. Not even _his_ girlfriend, no it was _her_ student.

He just crinkled his eye and told her it wouldn't happen again. Yeah, that was a bold face lie if he had ever told one.

And he had.

Many times.

--

He stepped up to the door of their apartment and could hear her bustling about on the other side. He withdrew his key from his pocket and slowly unlocked the door only to be tackled to the ground by a mass of pink and green.

He lifted her up into his arms and held her close. She ran her hands all over him to make sure that he was in one piece as he had promised he'd be in before he left.

He smiled down at her loving touch and followed her into their apartment.

She sat him down at the kitchen table and handed him a plateful of food. He loved her cooking. Somewhere along the lines of growing up and become a woman she had learned how to cook, and cook _**good**_. She had always claimed that her mother had taught her, but ever her mother, whom he adored, wasn't this good of a cook.

This woman that he loved had more talents up her sleeve that Houdini.

She also knew just how to butter him up when she had something to tell him, and cooking him his favorite foods, like the ones that were lain out in front of him now, was one of them.

He looked up from his plate at the woman who sat across from him holding her tea mug and daydreaming at the wall behind him.

--

When he had first moved in he found it odd that there were not just one, but _two_ spare rooms in here apartment. He had asked her why but all she said, rather unconvincingly, was that all the other two-bedroom apartments were taken and she didn't want a one-bedroom place.

_"Too small,"_ she claimed.

--

He sat back and watched her eyes glaze over a bit as she got wrapped up in her own thoughts.

She didn't realize that he'd stopped eating until several beats later and she flicked her gaze back to him and smiled.

"I have some good news," she said getting up to refill her mug.

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow following her into the kitchen.

"Mmmmhmmm," she nodded not looking at him. "I wasn't feeling good yesterday." His eyes widened at this, but he let her continue, "So Tsunade had Ino run some tests on me… and…" she paused to turn around and look at him, "I'm pregnant."

She watched as his expression turned from frightened and worried to confused then the next thing she knew he was on her like a cat to a mouse and squeaked in surprise.

"Are you really?" he asked excitedly kissing down her neck to her collarbone.

She giggled, "Now, why would I tell you something if it isn't true."

He ran his fingers down her sides to tickle her senseless. She threw in fits of giggles and flailing arms trying to squirm away.

He knelt down in front of her and proceeded to kiss her bare stomach wondering how long it will be until she starts to show.

"How long?" he asked looking up.

She ran her fingers through his silver hair, "I'm due on June tenth." That means that she's only about a month along.

--

He remembered that night. He remembered ever night they'd made love, in bed, on the couch, in the kitchen, on the dinner table, on the roof, in many, many, many trees all over Konoha, in her office at the hospital and even in the Hokage's office late at night. That had to have been the night before if his calculations were correct, and they always were. After all, he, the Infamous Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, was not in the Bingo Books for nothing. He could calculate any move, any date, just about anything. Even when Sakura had told him that she had been in love with him he wasn't thrown off his guard.

But this… he wasn't expecting.

--

He kissed her stomach once more, which made her giggle again, before he picked her up and carried her off to the bedroom.

--

--

Several hours and a couple of showers later they were back on the bed tangled in each others arms and sheets when Sakura piped up, "why do you always have to make love to me so many times in one sitting?" she paused for a moment then added, "or standing for that matter," and let out yet another giggle.

He looked down at her with his maskless face, smiled and said, "Because I'd die without you."

She smacked him lightly on the chest then snuggled into the crook of his arm and he pulled her even closer.

The funny part was that he wasn't really joking. He meant every bit of what he said to her, because without her, _"The mind churns, the heart yearns, the tears dry, life goes on, but I'd die without you."_

* * *

_Without you, the ground thaws, the rain falls, the grass grows._

_Without you, the seeds root, the flowers bloom, the children play._

_The stars gleam, the poets dream, the eagles fly, without you._

_The earth turns, the sun burns, but I'd die without you._

_Without you, the stars roar, the breeze warms, the girl smiles, the cloud moves._

_Without you, the tides change, the boys run, the oceans crash._

_The crowds roar, the days soar, the babies cry without you._

_The moon glows, the river flows, but I'd die without you._

_The world revives, colors renew._

_But I know blue, only blue, lonely blue, within me blue._

_Without you._

_Without you, the hand gropes, the ear hears, the pulse beats._

_Without you, the eyes gaze, the legs walk, the lungs breathe._

_The mind churns._

_The heart yearns._

_The tears dry without you._

_Life goes on but I'm gone._

_Cause I'd die without you._

_Without you_

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_**End**_

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Author's Note: I love how this one turned out. It's very poignant.


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